Man Gets 10 Years After Traveling To Texas To Have Sex With 15-Year-Old

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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — Prosecutors say an Ohio man who traveled to South Texas to meet a girl he chatted with online and sought for sex must serve 10 years in prison.

A federal judge in Corpus Christi on Tuesday sentenced 23-year-old Harley Michael Peterson of Toledo, Ohio. Peterson in September pleaded guilty to online solicitation of a child.

Prosecutors say Peterson communicated with the 15-year-old for several months online and by phone before traveling to Corpus Christi in August 2012 to meet her. Investigators say Peterson’s friends in Ohio warned him against making the trip — but he traveled to Texas anyway.

At about the same time the girl’s family reported she ran away.

Police tracked the teen’s postings online and eventually found her and Peterson.